Trooditissa Monastery

The Trooditissa Monastery (Greek Μοναστήρι Τροοδίτισσας ) is the summer residence of the Bishop of Paphos in Cyprus. It is about 1400 meters above sea level at the end of a valley about 5 miles from Plano Platres in the Troodos mountains away near Prodromos, the highest village of the island.

The three-aisled central church was built in 1731 on the foundations of its precursor from the mid-13th century. The founding of the monastery itself is to go back to the year 990, as here, a rescued before Iconoclasm icon of the Mother of God ( Panagia Trooditissa ) appeared, which had been kept hidden by monks in a nearby cave. According to another legend, the icon in Limassol is found floating on the sea and later, after the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottomans in 1570/71, have been hiding in the mountains. Besides this silver plate clad icon a beaten metal belt many believers is cause for pilgrimage to ' Irooditissa. He is accused of bringing fertility effect, if a childless woman puts it around her body. Is probably it is connected with a pre-Christian cult to see - sometimes the monastery is also called the Panagia Aphroditissa ( the All-Holy Aphrodite ).

The first mention of the monastery comes from the copy of a letter from the 14th century. The monk Damaskinos and his successor Abbot Pangkratios, the monastery from the year 1939 had to revive after it was burned in 1842 and had to be closed. Since the late 1960s, restorations were made and extended the facility.